Black Book – An RPG Rooted in Slavic Mythology

Have you heard of the game Black Book? Until the other day, neither had I (unless you answered that you had, then you’re just ahead of me) until I heard about it on one of MMOByte’s latest videos.

Much like the splash screen gives away, the game does look like it may be incredible and reminds me a bit of when I first saw Stoic working on The Banner Saga (in that it isn’t a game about pushing 60FPS but rather artistically beautiful to watch). So what is it? It’s a project seeking to get crowd-funded on Kickstarter by this Saturday (June 6, 2020)… but don’t worry, it’s already surpassed not only the original goal of $35,000 but is currently sitting around $123,038 with 3,782 backers and 3 days left to go.

Now, before you start reading this, a little theme music (from the Kickstarter):

The story? You’ll be playing as Vasilisa, who was brought up to be a Znatka (a kind of sorceress who speaks to spirits… and fights them when she must), but destined to become a witch. She turned away from her teachings so that she could marry her beloved. Since “Black Book” doesn’t necessarily bring warm, cuddly feelings to mind, it is no surprise that her betrothed dies… supposedly by his own hand.  Vasilisa could not accept this, so she set off to uncover the seals of the Black Book, which are rumored to be powerful enough to grant any wish… even returning her beloved from the dead. To do so, she has a long road ahead of her with many battles to fight and decisions to make. 

The game itself looks to be a blend of a deck-building RPG and a turned-based combat game with a strong narrative rooted in Slavic mythology and folktales. On the Kickstarter, they mention Slay the Spire as an inspiration (and I know how many people love that game) and sounds like the mythology will be familiar to Witcher fans. Good games to want to emulate. Not sold yet? Did I mention there is a talking cat named Prohka who, at one turn, reminds me of the cat from Sabrina the Witch and the other… well, Missy (my cat) who does think she’s an Egyptian goddess and that I should be pleased she chose me as her pet (silly cats).

Who’s making this? Morteshka, a small indie studio from Perm, Russia is creating this (first I’ve heard of them, to be honest) and they have released a game before (that I have never heard of) named The Moosman which is available on Steam and, while only a small number of reviews, they are very positive.

Speaking of Steam, though, they actually have the Prologue for Black Book on there (for free). It’s just under 400MB so you can download it faster than you can read this sentence and give it a spin. Which honestly is going to give you the information needed to know if you want to follow or back this project. I just played it, took about 30 minutes. Between what I’ve seen and read and from the foundation of a game the prologue has, gives me enough desire to want to see this project succeed.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284240/Black_Book_Prologue/